Walkway for Days Bay wharf
Commuters catching East by West Ferries at Days Bay will use a temporary cantilevered walkway while the wharf gets a $3 million upgrade.
The work is part of a wider package that will see Hutt City Council spend $15m on four wharves.
In 2016, the council budgeted $7.3m to repair the wharves, including the popular Petone structure, which is regarded by locals as an icon. It became clear the wharves were all in a poorer condition and required major upgrades or demolition.
Parks manager Bruce Hodgins said repairing the Days Bay wharf – used by commuters, fishers and swimmers – was a major challenge.
It was temporarily closed after the 2016 Kaiko¯ura earthquake, and the walkway on to the main platform was in poor condition. To maintain access to East by West Ferries, a temporary walkway would be attached to the existing walkway.
The work is planned to begin in March 2019, to avoid disrupting use of the popular wharf over the school holidays.
Petone has proved the biggest headache for council. The latest plan is to keep that wharf going with ongoing maintenance until 2032, when it will get an $8m overhaul.
At 393 metres, it is the longest wharf, and was already in very poor condition before receiving further damage in the 2016 quake.
Marine worms and southerly storms have damaged the piles to the point where some move in the wind. After being temporarily closed for safety reasons, it was re-opened late last year and is regularly inspected by engineers.
Hodgins was confident the wharf was safe to use. It was originally built to handle large freighters taking meat from Gear Meat to Britain.
Councillors decided to repair the three heritage wharves (Petone, Days Bay and Rona Bay) and to demolish Pt Howard. Work had started on Rona Bay and engineers were investigating how to safely remove Pt Howard, which was closed due to to safety concerns.
Hodgins said the wharves were in exposed marine environments and until work began, it was hard to accurately estimate what was required and how much it would cost.